Inter-Ministerial Central Team considers Wayanad landslides a ‘disaster of severe nature,’ Centre informs Kerala

Centre considers Wayanad landslides a disaster of severe nature, but financial assistance details remain unclear.

The Centre has reiterated that the Inter-Ministerial Central Team (IMCT) considers the Meppadi landslides in Wayanad to be a “disaster of severe nature for all practical purposes.”

The IMCT had adopted this view given the “intensity and magnitude” of the July 30 landslides, the Union Home Affairs Ministry said in a December 30 letter to Tinku Biswal, Principal Secretary, Revenue and Disaster Management, Kerala.

Union Minister of State for Home Affairs Nityanand Rai, replying to a question in the Rajya Sabha on November 27, had already pointed out that the IMCT considered the Wayanad disaster to be one of “severe nature.” Kerala has been urging the Centre to declare the Wayanad landslides a ‘national calamity.’ According to Mr. Rai’s reply, the State Disaster Response Fund (SDRF) and the National Disaster Response Fund (NDRF) guidelines do not provide for declaring any natural calamity as a ‘national calamity’. However, the calamity in Wayanad has been adjudged to be of ‘severe nature’ by the IMCT.

The December 30 letter does not have any mention of the financial assistance sought by Kerala for rehabilitation. But it says that in the event of a disaster of severe nature, financial assistance towards notified natural disasters, including landslide, is met from the SDRF “already placed at their disposal, which is further supplemented from the NDRF in accordance with established procedure, which includes an assessment based on the visit of the IMCT.”

On its wish list for Union Budget 2025-26, Kerala has sought a ₹2,000-crore rehabilitation package for Wayanad.